How To Write Special Feature Articles Part 27

Since every question is like a riddle, a t.i.tle in question form naturally leads the reader to seek the answer in the article itself. The directness of appeal may be heightened by addressing the question to the reader with "you," "your," or by presenting it from the reader's point of view with the use of "I," "we," or "ours." The sub-t.i.tle may be another question or an affirmation, but should not attempt to answer the question. The following are typical question t.i.tles and sub-t.i.tles:

(1) WHAT IS A FAIR PRICE FOR MILK?

(2) HOW MUCH HEAT IS THERE IN YOUR COAL?

(3) WHO'S THE BEST BOSS?

Would You Rather Work For a Man or For a Machine?

(4) "SHE SANK BY THE BOW"--BUT WHY?

(5) HOW SHALL WE KEEP WARM THIS WINTER?

(6) DOES DEEP PLOWING PAY?

What Some Recent Tests Have Demonstrated

(7) SHALL I START A CANNING BUSINESS?

The reader may be addressed in an imperative form of t.i.tle, as well as in a question, as the following t.i.tles show:

(1) BLAME THE SUN SPOTS Solar Upheavals That Make Mischief on the Earth

(2) EAT SHARKS AND TAN THEIR SKINS

(3) HOE! HOE! FOR UNCLE SAM

(4) DON'T JUMP OUT OF BED Give Your Subconscious Self a Chance to Awake Gradually

(5) RAISE FISH ON YOUR FARM

(6) BETTER STOP! LOOK! AND LISTEN!

The attractiveness of t.i.tles may be heightened by such combinations of sounds as alliteration and rhyme, or by rhythm such as is produced by balanced elements. The following examples ill.u.s.trate the use of alliteration, rhyme, and balance:

(1) THE LURE OF THE LATCH

(2) THE DIMINIs.h.i.+NG DOLLAR

(3) TRACING TELEPHONE TROUBLES

(4) BOY CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE

(5) A LITTLE BILL AGAINST BILLBOARDS

(6) EVERY CAMPUS A CAMP

(7) LABOR-LIGHTENERS AND HOME-BRIGHTENERS

(8) THE ARTILLERY MILL AT OLD FORT SILL How Uncle Sam is Training His Field Artillery Officers

(9) SCHOLARS VS. DOLLARS

(10) WAR ON PESTS When the Spray Gun's Away, Crop Enemies Play

(11) MORE HEAT AND LESS COAL

(12) GRAIN ALCOHOL FROM GREEN GARBAGE

HOW TO FRAME A t.i.tLE. The application of the general principles governing t.i.tles may best be shown by means of an article for which a t.i.tle is desired. A writer, for example, has prepared a popular article on soil a.n.a.lysis as a means of determining what chemical elements different kinds of farm land need to be most productive. A simple label t.i.tle like "The Value of Soil a.n.a.lysis," obviously would not attract the average person, and probably would interest only the more enterprising of farmers. The a.n.a.lysis of soil not unnaturally suggests the diagnosis of human disease; and the remedying of worn-out, run-down farm land by applying such chemicals as phosphorus and lime, is a.n.a.logous to the physician's prescription of tonics for a run-down, anaemic person. These ideas may readily be worked out as the following t.i.tles show:

(1) PRESCRIBING FOR RUN-DOWN LAND What the Soil Doctor is Doing to Improve Our Farms

(2) THE SOIL DOCTOR AND HIS TONICS Prescribing Remedies for Worn-Out Farm Land

(3) DIAGNOSING ILLS OF THE SOIL Science Offers Remedies for Depleted Farms

Other figurative t.i.tles like the following may be developed without much effort from the ideas that soil "gets tired," "wears out," and "needs to be fed":

(1) WHEN FARM LAND GETS TIRED Scientists Find Causes of Exhausted Fields

(2) FIELDS WON'T WEAR OUT If the Warnings of Soil Experts Are Heeded

(3) BALANCED RATIONS FOR THE SOIL Why the Feeding of Farm Land is Necessary for Good Crops

CHAPTER X

PREPARING AND SELLING THE Ma.n.u.sCRIPT

IMPORTANCE OF GOOD Ma.n.u.sCRIPT. After an article has been carefully revised, it is ready to be copied in the form in which it will be submitted to editors. Because hundreds of contributions are examined every day in editorial offices of large publications, ma.n.u.scripts should be submitted in such form that their merits can be ascertained as easily and as quickly as possible. A neatly and carefully prepared ma.n.u.script is likely to receive more favorable consideration than a badly typed one. The impression produced by the external appearance of a ma.n.u.script as it comes to an editor's table is comparable to that made by the personal appearance of an applicant for a position as he enters an office seeking employment. In copying his article, therefore, a writer should keep in mind the impression that it will make in the editorial office.

FORM FOR Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS. Editors expect all ma.n.u.scripts to be submitted in typewritten form. Every person who aspires to write for publication should learn to use a typewriter. Until he has learned to type his work accurately, he must have a good typist copy it for him.

A good typewriter with clean type and a fresh, black, non-copying ribbon produces the best results. The following elementary directions apply to the preparation of all ma.n.u.scripts: (1) write on only one side of the paper; (2) allow a margin of about three quarters of an inch on all sides of the page; (3) double s.p.a.ce the lines in order to leave room for changes, sub-heads, and other editing.

Unruled white bond paper of good quality in standard letter size, 8 by 11 inches, is the most satisfactory. A high grade of paper not only gives the ma.n.u.script a good appearance but stands more handling and saves the recopying of returned ma.n.u.scripts. A carbon copy should be made of every ma.n.u.script so that, if the original copy goes astray in the mail or in an editorial office, the writer's work will not have been in vain. The carbon copy can also be used later for comparison with the printed article. Such a comparison will show the writer the amount and character of the editing that was deemed necessary to adapt the material to the publication in which it appears.

A cover sheet of the same paper is a convenient device. It not only gives the editorial reader some information in regard to the article, but it protects the ma.n.u.script itself. Frequently, for purposes of record, ma.n.u.scripts are stamped or marked in editorial offices, but if a cover page is attached, the ma.n.u.script itself is not defaced. When an article is returned, the writer needs to recopy only the cover page before starting the ma.n.u.script on its next journey. The form for such a cover page is given on page 184.

The upper half of the first page of the ma.n.u.script should be left blank, so that the editor may write a new t.i.tle and sub-t.i.tle if he is not satisfied with those supplied by the author. The t.i.tle, the sub-t.i.tle, and the author's name should be repeated at the beginning of the article in the middle of the first page, even though they have been given on the cover page. At the left-hand side, close to the top of each page after the first, should be placed the writer's last name followed by a dash and the t.i.tle of the article, thus:

Milton--Confessions of a Freshman.

The pages should be numbered in the upper right-hand corner. By these simple means the danger of losing a page in the editorial offices is reduced to a minimum.